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Shakespeare My Butt!: Marsupial Elvis to No Place ... Ramblings, Meanderings, Digressions... and a Dog | 
 enlarge | Author: John Donoghue
Publisher: Matador
Category: Book
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £5.00
You Save: £4.99 (50%)
New (12) Used (4) from £5.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  38 reviews
Sales Rank: 194545
Media: Paperback
Edition: 3Rev Ed
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 1906510598
EAN: 9781906510596
ASIN: 1906510598
Publication Date: July 4, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: unwanted gift
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| Customer Reviews: Read 33 more reviews...
 A surprisingly hysterical read.....!! August 21, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
As a teacher, a swift glance at the title had me believing that I had bought a book which would offer me an alternate, perhaps even unique insight into the musings of The Bard. What an amazing act of serendipity that I had not paid closer attention to my purchase....!!!
"Shakespeare My Butt" had me laughing out loud countless times throughout a very dreary Trans-Atlantic flight.Fellow passengers gawped and tutted but then smiled and laughed, too. Dogs/ military insights and escapades during the Cold War/ religion/ meanderings around some very suspectly named places in the UK ( not for the easily offended!!)/ heart-warming father/ daughter relationships( I wish I'd had a dad like John when I was a little girl)/ outrageous abuse of the British 999 system and lots more!!
If John Donoghue were in my class, I would certainly write in his end of year report that he suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder but in his case, this is most definitely an asset rather than a disability as his "flighty" mind only adds to the charm and humour of this comic gem.
His style is very warm and engaging which makes this book a real page-turner - i just didn't want it to end! I had tears running down my cheeks when the author's dog trainer accused him of tiptoe-ing downstairs in the middle of the night to leave "brown parcels" on the kitchen floor in order to frame his incontinent pup!!! I was also fascinated to learn that the Police sometimes receive emergency 999 curtain catastrophes!!!??
The barely disguised innuendo is a hoot and, ladies, so is Mr. Donoghue's perceived insight into the workings of the female psyche.....!
What a fantastic read!! I thoroughly recommend this book - it's worth every penny!!
Excellent Read!! August 14, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am not a great lover of non-fiction but I thought this book was GREAT, real laugh out loud stuff.
Stand Up Literature July 26, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
In today's context of publishers wanting quick financial returns on any new books entering the arena, it is rare to come across a book that so willingly bucks the formulaic trend of such an environment.
Donoghue's style is wonderfully meandering and anecdotal- more stand-up comedy than literature really. And it becomes obvious as the pages turn that this is a true work of passion- art created for the joy of creating it, rather than a different, more worldly motivation.
The stories intertwined with Donogue's quest to visit the strangest named places in Britain are seriously funny, and a lot of them play on the age old "funny because it's true" observationalist tendencies in everyone.
It is also down to the fact that Donoghue's writing is so amusing and engaging that it is difficult to put the book down- the style encourages a "I'll just read this next little bit" mentality that doesn't seem satiated until the end of the book comes all too soon.
There are the inevitable comparisons with Bill Bryson, and also to a certain extent Danny Wallace, but it is Donoghue's hilarious digressions, and the sense of artistic freedom that runs through the text that make it the most appealing.
A fantastic effort for a debut work, and one that I have no problem with strongly recommending to all readers out there.
 I must have missed something June 21, 2008
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
The more I read the more I became convinced the printers had put the wrong pages in between the covers. By page 85 I'd read nothing about pointless quests just a very dull diary about buying a dog. The point of this book really escaped me, why should I care what this mans daughter thinks? (And yes John, you are proud of her intelligence, we get it)
It's not often I feel totally cheated by a book, if I don't like it then it's a matter of taste but this left me cold.
I bought this based on the reviews, laugh out load, hilarious, apparently. Which again leads me to the thought that I read a different book.
Awful
Warning! May 31, 2007
8 out of 12 found this review helpful
Warning : may cause an adverse reaction in people without a well developed sense of humour.
This is a seriously funny book! The humour varies in the book from slapstick, through to self deprecating, subtle double entendres to sophisticated witticisms.
To me that is where the joy of the book is but I guess to others that can be the problem. You WILL miss some of the funnies first time round and if you do my advice is read it again...it will be like reading a different book when you are tuned into the authors wavelength. My 66 year old mother, 40 year old husband and 14 year old daughter have all read the book and loved it. All have retold funny parts to the book that others have missed. All have described the theme of the book as something different. I think it's because the book isn't written to some kind of formula as many books are nowadays so they can be mass marketed to a specific audience. Here the author seems to have written whatever he likes, digressing here and there, bringing in different themes and topics, all seen in an irreverent and witty way, and for me that makes Shakespeare My Butt a breath of fresh air. I don't know what shelf you'd find this on in a bookshop...it's not easy to categorise. All I know is that it fully deserves 5 stars! (Be warned it is irreverent in places)
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